The Second Sun
by Waeyon-thunderlord
Summary: A young man's quest for the sacred power within Magma Rock quickly turns into a quest to save the world as an ancient evil stirs.   original characters
1. Chapter 1

There was the great beast; a massive, golden bird. It was a phoenix, an animal aligned with Mars, the element of Fire. It was said that they were able to be consumed by fire and return restored in both age and health; they were also said to be immortal.

This phoenix, with its glowing eyes and glistening feathers, was engaged in a battle with a young man; he stood several feet away facing the beast with his sword drawn. His sandaled feet stood firmly on the reddish-brown stone of the cavern in which he stood and his loose-fitting tunic was soaked with sweat and scorched as if by fire, as was parts of his exposed skin. The tips of his short, spiky red hair smoked as if singed.

The phoenix looked no better. Its feathers were ruffled, bent, and broken. Its eyes, though glowing, glowed only weakly. Like the man's tunic, the phoenix's body and feathers were also scorched and singed. The tips of some of its feathers were alight with flame.

The man dived aside as the phoenix unleashed a quick, well-aimed beam of Mars energy that took him by surprise. As he hit the ground he rolled and regained his footing. Jumping up, he unleashed his own beam of energy; the phoenix did not avoid it. The energy struck the golden bird squarely in the breast and sent it flying. A quick fluttering of its wings was all that was required to keep it from striking the cavern wall. Stopped midair and then it flew towards the man with a stream of fire lancing forth from its great golden beak.

It hovered in the air just before him as a steady stream of flame poured from its mouth, but he did not flinch. He raised one hand and the flame simply blazed past him as the phoenix poured its energy into an attempt to scorch him alive.

The bird saw how easily he deflected its attack and even more flame erupted from its mouth. He quickly and effortlessly pulled his arm back, allowing the flame to blaze closed to him. Then without batting an eye he thrust his hand forward and the fire changed course and instead enveloped the phoenix.

The great golden bird apparently did not realize it was, in fact, fueling the fire that was now consuming it as it continued to force more and more flame from its mouth. It was almost instantly completely consumer and in mere moments its body burned away to nothing but dust falling to the cavern floor.

The man fell to one knee, his energy nearly expended. He dropped his sword, and with one forearm he wiped the sweat from his forehead, cursing both the monsters and the heat of Magma Rock. He stood and then fumbled on the ground for his dropped pack, dug through it and pulled out a large jug of water; he cursed again when it felt empty.

Tired from both his journey and his battles, he sat on a nearby rock as he fumbled with the cork in the mouth of the jug. His hands failed him so he resorted to wrenching it out by his teeth; he was successful and spat the cork out into his hand. For a third time he cursed as he drained the last of his water.

"Flash," he said aloud. "Could you go fetch me some water, or at the very least cool me down a little. For a Mars Adept I am terribly hot."

There was a burst of white light and a creature, no larger than a small dog, appeared before him. This creature had orange fur and two spikes upon its head. It had no arms, but had two legs and a large, fluffy orange tail. Its bright blue eyes stared at the man intently.

"_I could try to block the heat_," it said in the man's head with a hint of irritation in its voice. "_However, Van, I am a Mars djinn; you know, a spirit of fire. If you wanted some ice water to cool you down, perhaps you should have decided to travel with a Mercury djinn instead of me._"

"Come now, Flash. You've been with me since I was a child. I would never get rid of you, no matter if you are currently useless or not," Van said, laughing. Flash was a djinn, an elemental spirit. He had been passed down through Van's family for generations; Van had inherited him from his grandfather.

Flash started glowing angrily.

"A little touchy are we not?" Van teased in response.

The glow subsided. "_I am still recovering from that battle with the two lesser demons, shortly before we ran into that phoenix. I just hope we find the Mars Sanctum soon, or at least a Psynergy Stone, I am exhausted._"

"Do not fear, Flash. I can feel that we are getting much closer. Mars Sanctum is not too far yet."

Flash cast him a doubtful (that is if djinn could appear doubtful, one could never really read a djinn's face) look and disappeared in another burst of light. Van could swear he heard a 'hmph' as the orange creature vanished.

Mars Sanctum, at the center of Magma Rock, was home to a great power. Hidden away for many centuries, it was long the goal of many Mars Adepts to find it and earn the power of the gods that was secreted away inside.

When he was a child, Van's grandmother used to tell him the stories of her travels and adventures. His favorite story was of how she fought her way through the winding maze of tunnels running through the mountain to find the Mars Sanctum at the center.

"I miss Gran," he said aloud as he thought of her.

He sat in silence for a moment, thinking about his grandparents. All of them had passed and he had loved all of them. Well, the ones he had known anyway. He had never known his father's father, but his father's mother, Gran, had been very dear to him. Though his mother's family lived a great distance away, he held them very close to his heart as well.

Regaining his focus, he replaced the cork in the jug and placed it in his pack once more. He stood up and fastened his pack to its place at his waist. He scooped his sword up from where he had dropped it and slid it back into the sheath.

He searched the cavern and found the doorway through which he had entered it. He decided to search in the opposite direction. As he made his way across the rocky floor, he noticed that there was now a hole in the bottom of his sandal and rocks were cutting into his foot. He cursed again.

After several minutes of searching and painful walking, he finally found a doorway which led into a dark corridor. Though he desired greatly to conserve the last of his dwindling energy he summoned a tiny flame to his hand and used it to find his way through the corridor. He walked for slowly on account of his foot and the need to tread carefully in the unfamiliar darkness. It was nearly twenty minutes until he saw light at the end of what seemed to be an endless corridor.

When he finally reached the light, he threw himself recklessly into it; he was too eager to leave the darkness behind him. When he stumbled through the doorway he found himself in another large cavern, though this one was easily double the size of the last one through which he had passed.

He extinguished the flame in his hand, glad to be able to once again try to conserve his energy. The cavern in which he now stood was lit by hundreds of torches burning on the rocky walls. How these torches continued burning or who put them there was anyone's guess, but Van was glad that they were there. He could, however, sense that there was some Psynergy behind the burning of these torches. He could feel the magical fire reaching to him, calling to him to touch it, to play with it. Every part of him wanted to touch the fire but he resisted and kept moving.

He stopped suddenly as he found he had nearly stepped over the edge of the ledge on which he stood. He jumped back, but peered over the edge carefully into what seemed to be nothing, but a deep, black abyss. He looked around and saw that the outcropping of rock on which he was ended abruptly without wrapping around to the other side of the cavern; he was at what was essentially a dead end.

He decided to follow the ledge to see where the other end led. It was not very long before he came to another dead end, but this time the dead end came in the form of a giant head carved out of stone. It had huge, vacant eyes carved into the stone and the clearly carved outline of a jaw and mouth. In the center of its forehead was a large violet stone.

Van cursed again.

Flash quietly reminded Van that his mother would not be happy with the fact that he was cursing so much, but Van ignored him.

He placed his hand on the side of the giant face and closed his eyes. He felt his legs start to shake as he fed nearly the last of his remaining energy into the head. There was a rumbling from deep inside the stone head and Van jumped back as the great stone mouth opened, allowing bright, hot magma to flow forth from it into the depths of the abyss.

Van stood and watched the magma flow for what seemed like an eternity. He could feel the heat emitting off of it and it made him all the more uncomfortable. He could not wait to leave this mountain and relish the fresh air.

After what nearly seemed like hours Van, who had long since sat down, jumped when he heard the sound of the great stone mouth snapping shut. He looked towards the chasm and saw that it was now a lake of molten lava.

"I'm not sure if this has actually improved things," he said aloud to Flash, himself, and anyone else who might care to listen.

He paced along the edge of the lava searching for a way across. He became excited when he saw the surfaces of several flat rocks sticking out of the lava. The rocks all appeared large enough for him to stand on and they were all far enough apart to traverse to the other side, but close enough minimize his chance of dying.

He approached the edge closest to the first rock. He studied for a moment, gauging the distance and his actual chance of making it across. He stepped back and then dashed towards the edge; he leapt gracefully across the space.

When his feet met rock his footing was uneven. He rocked back and forth on the rock before becoming stable. The rocks, he noticed, were not simply a slab of rock floating on the magma; these rocks were somehow anchored to something and, as a result, quite stable.

"_Be careful_," Flash warned sarcastically in his mind. "_It would be quite unfortunate for us to have come all of this way, only for you to kill us by falling into the lava._"

Van, quite used to the djinn's dry humor, thought nothing of it. "Well out of the two of us only I have anything to worry about dying. You, my friend, are not a mortal being; I am the only one here who should be concerned about dying.

Though Flash did not appear before him, Van could only imagine him grinning because he knew what Van said was true.

Van returned his thoughts to the task at hand. He quickly and deftly leapt over the gaps between the rocks across the fiery lake below him. He stopped when he reached the final rock. The distance between this and his destination seemed to be greater than all the times before.

He paced on the rock for a moment, gauging his changes. Then, deciding with reckless abandon, he dashed towards the edge and leapt from the rock. He slipped, however, and stumbled as his foot left the rock beneath it.

Panicking as he fell towards lava, he thrust his hand downward. He managed to summon some Psynergy from deep within and cast created a thermal updraft beneath him, sending him soaring into the air. As he descended he flipped and landed on his feet exactly where he wanted to be.

"_Show off_."


	2. Chapter 2

Van took a moment to relish in his showy landing, though no one other than Flash and himself had seen it, before searching for his next move. It took no longer than a moment to find a dark doorway only a few yards in front of him. Though he was tired of the darkness, he had no energy left to summon a flame. He entered the dark doorway and immersed himself in the darkness.

Again, he walked slowly through the darkness. His landing had reminded him of the wound in his foot and because of the darkness he could not see the floor before him. He tread as carefully as he could though no amount of caution would save him should he encounter a sudden opening in the cave floor.

Suddenly there appeared a dazzling light before him and he saw Flash there, forcing light into the darkness. "Flash!"

"_What?"_

"You scared the spirit right out of me! For the sake of the Great Gabomba!"

Flash did not respond except for a 'hmph' of indignation. Instead, he started moving down the dark corridor obviously without concern for whether Van followed him or not. Though the djinn was obviously irritated with him, Van was happy for his presence. The light radiating from the djinn was a barrier of Psynergy, his favorite defense mechanism. Van found that he was even absorbing some of the Psynergy, which helped to restore some of his strength.

Suddenly Flash slammed into him and knocked him to the ground. Upon contact the djinn's shield faded and the darkness consumed them once more.

"Flash, what was that?"

"_Sorry, a monster appeared and it scared me._"

"What? A monster appeared and it…wait. We're in this darkness. Alone. With a monster we cannot see."

"_That would seem to be the case_."

Van scrambled backwards when suddenly Flash's shield reappeared just as a great blue monster was about to strike them. The beast struck the shield with great force, but was repelled. Van scrambled to his feet and with Flash's shield flickering as the djinn lost energy he ran as fast as he could.

He ran until he felt as though he strength would give out. Somehow, he kept moving. He cursed when he saw Flash's shield vanish, but it did not return. He saw a burst of light as Flash vanished and rejoined Van, ready to be summoned but unable to use his power for anything else. A long string of curses flowed from Van's mouth as he pushed himself to keep running.

He could feel the beast's hot breath upon his back and could smell the blood upon the beast's teeth. Its monstrous screams and howls sent shivers down Van's spine as he pushed himself farther. A tiny stone caused him to nearly lose footing, but he caught himself and managed to just evade what he knew to be the beast's snapping jaws in the darkness.

While he was running though he could not help but wonder. He heard four noises coming from the beast: it cawed, it hissed, it roared and it bleated. How could one beast make all these different noises? What was it that chased him?

Finally Van saw a light ahead. He knew that if he could reach the light he would be ok. If he could just reach the end of the corridor he could draw his sword and face the monster who was now pursuing him; he could see its face and defeat it.

Like the last dark corridor from which he had escaped from, Van threw himself into the light. He found himself in a large, round room lit by a dozen or so torches. Though he had no power left to create fire, he knew he could control the fire of these torches without expending much energy.

He dashed to the other side of the room and turned to face that which followed him. For a moment, there was nothing; the beast did not show itself. Then, slowly, a mass of blue monster exited the darkness. First, it was a massive blue paw, followed by another. Then the legs to which those paws were attached. Then the head: a great bird shaped head. This was followed by…two more heads? The heads of a goat and a lion followed. Behind the heads came a sleek, muscular body covered in blue fur and finally there was its rear end, adorned with a tail which was actually a living purple snake.

"Well, that explains all the noises you made," Van said to it.

If it understood him, it didn't care what he said. It approached him slowly, but surely with hunger in its eyes.

"_A Grand Chimera_," Flash whispered in his head. "_Despite its different heads, this is a Mars-based creature so we can expect our powers to be next to useless. Just like when we battled the phoenix and, oh yeah, those couple of hundred other monsters we've faced since entering this mountain._"

"Thanks, Flash. I knew I could count on you," Van replied sarcastically.

Then the Chimera charged. Then it was gone in a flash. Van looked around wildly only to find the Chimera approaching from the back. He drew his sword and took his stance, but as he did the beast disappeared again.

He spun around and found the monster again. As soon as he had, it was gone once more.

"Mars take you! How are I supposed to fight the thing if I can't keep up with it?"

"_Well, its main objective in doing that is so that you cannot fight it. It wants an easy meal_."

Van just ignored the djinn and found the Chimera once more. Tired of the Chimera's games, Van raised his hands and called upon the power of Mars, the element of fire. Before him appeared a spectral image of the Mars djinn which burst into flame and went crashing into the Chimera before exploding.

"Of course! A Grand Chimera!" Van exclaimed. "I remember now!" He had learned of these creatures from his grandmother during one of her stories about Magma Rock. She had always said that the beasts had three heads and thus its mind was divided thrice. "But what in Mars' name were the three heads for?"

He was roused quickly from his thoughts as the Chimera came charging at him again; this time it did not vanish. He had just enough time to dive out of the way as it came crashing down upon him. He rolled away and quickly regained his footing.

He searched his memory for what his grandmother had told him, hoping to find something useful there. "The mind is divided thrice…" The he remembered what Flash had said about the Chimera's main objective.

"Of course! One head is intelligence." He glanced quickly at the heads as the beast recovered from smashing into the cave wall. Of course! The avian head would be the intelligence!

Van took his stance and let the Chimera come crashing down upon him. This time he created a blast of hot air that shot him up and above the charging monster. As he came down he cleanly sliced the bird head right from the body.

The Chimera writhed in pain as one of its heads fell to the floor. Van did not hesitate and drew energy from the fires burning on the walls for an attack. He thrust his hand outward and a beam of energy shot from his hand and struck the beast, burning off its second head.

Van watched as the goat shaped head fell to the ground. "Ok, so the intelligence head is gone and the…goat head? What does that leave?"

"_That leaves the head you should have cut off first!_" Flash said as he returned, fully recovered. "_The beast's instinctual head._"

Van realized in an instant what he had done. He had robbed the beast of its cunning and reasoning, and apparently the head that controlled its primary functions. Now all that was left was the lion head, the one controlling its survival instincts."

Van cursed, yet again as the Chimera came tearing at him again, its final head foaming a the mouth; it recklessly charged at him, incapable of being concerned for its own safety. It crashed into him, sending him flying into the nearest cave wall. He recovered as quickly as he could and charged the beast, throwing his own caution out as well.

He swung his sword and missed. As he stumbled past the beast the snake that served as its tail snapped and fangs met the flesh on his right arm: his sword arm as well as the arm he used primarily for using Psynergy.

As he ripped the snake from his arm, he saw the green venom dripping from its fangs. In a matter of seconds his entire right arm was numb, from shoulder to fingertips, and he dropped his sword; it clattered as it struck the ground.

The beast gave him no time to recover and came tearing at him, but this time it met Flash's shield; it bounced off though it crashed with great force. Van was glad to see that there were burns on its body from contact with the shield of fire.

Before the Chimera had a chance to recover, Van reached out with his left hand and called out to the fires burning on the walls. He could feel the Psynergy burning within them and he summoned it to his hand. With a wave of his hand, the fires quickly became a swirling firestorm that consumed the Chimera, causing it to roar out in pain. To add to the beast's pain, Van called upon Mars once more to strike at his enemy.

He noticed that the poison was quickly sapping his strength. In a few minutes he would probably be too weak to fight, or even just dead.

Not a minute later, the fire swirling around the Chimera vanished and though it seemed burned and battered it still had quite a bit of fight left in it. Van, however, had none. As the poison took the last of his strength, he fell to the ground.

"Great, the last thing I'm ever going to see is a one-headed Chimera charging towards me," He thought. "And Flash is going to be right. This journey has killed me. So help me Mars I hope there's no heaven. If I have to listen to Flash gloat for the rest of eternity…"

He winced and closed his eyes as the beast roared and began its charge towards him.


	3. Chapter 3

Van opened his eyes again when suddenly there was the crack of a whip somewhere in the cavern. He opened them to slits at first and then completely. He was shocked at what he saw.

Standing several yards before him was the one-headed Chimera, but it did not face him any longer; it had found a new opponent.

Facing the Chimera was an armored figure with a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. The armor was as black as night, as were the objects in each hand. Van tried to peer inside of the figures helmet to discern its identity, but he found only darkness there making identification impossible.

The figure made a move towards the monster and as it did, Van saw that there was in fact no one inside the armor; gaps in the armor had made that perfectly clear. The armor seemed to be moving on its own, as if possessed by some strange spirit.

Then, before Van could blink an eye, the armor dashed towards the monster at a speed that seemed impossible for something which appeared so heavy. Before Van, and the Chimera, knew it, the armor had severed the monsters snake tail; a quick slash sent it flying through the air and landing quite near to Van's feet. Seeing it reminded him that his arm was now throbbing with pain where he had been bitten.

In another instant the armor had quickly repositioned itself. With one powerful thrust, it stuck its long black spear into the lion's mouth and out of the back of its head. Van had seen the Chimera's body slump to the ground before the armor was finished, but it continued until the entire spear had passed through.

Apparently satisfied, and covered in strange purple blood, the armor removed the spear. It turned, faced Van, and nodded. Then without a further gesture, it vanished in a small burst of light.

Flash appeared just a foot from Van and turned quickly, trying to figure out what had just happened. "_Now what in Valukar's great, big…_"

"Flash!" Van interrupted.

Flash, looking irritated, floated away from Van. "_Well, would you not like to know who just came to your rescue? That was a monster called a Living Armor and they do not just roam around Gondowan, Van!_"

Flash jumped backwards when a man stepped from the shadows. He appeared to be nearly six feet of solid muscle; his biceps were easily as large as Van's head. Apparently the heat of Magma Rock had begun to bother him as well; he had removed his shirt and all that remained of his trousers had been cut off into shorts. Over his muscular chest and shoulders was strapped the scabbard for the sword he held in one hand. In the other hand he held a long, brown whip.

As he approached Van, he restored his sword to its sheath and quickly wound up his whip, which he promptly strapped to his belt. He stopped just a few feet from Van, pulled his long brown hair out of his ivy green eyes and into a ponytail.

"W-who are you?" Van managed to stutter. He was both terrified and in great pain from the poison in his arm. Without a word, the man came to his side and knelt down. Though Van struggled, the man easily wrenched Van's arm away from him and began studying the wound. He turned for a second and rummaged through a pack that he wore strapped to his belt. He produced a small crystal bottle filled with a bright red liquid. He wrenched out the cork with his teeth, spat it out and poured the contents on Van's wound.

It was the most painful thing Van had ever felt and as it smoked he tried to take his arm away, but the other held it firmly. The man waved his hand and it started glowing with a bright green hue and he placed it on the wound. Almost instantly Van felt the pain disappear and felt his strength begin to return. As the glow around his hand faded, the man released Van's arm.

He turned and rummaged through his bag once more. This time he produced a blue vial, which he handed to Van.

"Drink this," in a voice that Van had expected to be deep and gruff, though to his surprise it was not. He removed the cork by hand and held it out.

Van reluctantly took it and drank from it; it was crisp and delicious and he could feel more of his strength returning to his body. He tried to stand, shakily at first, but he managed to rise to his feet. He walked around a little and then turned to face the man.

"Who are you?" Van demanded, this time with certainly more strength and less intimidation, though he quickly added: "My name is Van."

The man smiled in response. "So you are feeling better now, my friend?"

Flash, who had stood by and watched this man tend to Van's wounds, jumped up and down angrily. "_Was it you who defeated that Chimera?_" He demanded with impatience in his voice.

The man laughed. "Of course I did. I simply sent my Living Armor to your defense. Had the Chimera been at full health it may have been more of a challenge, but you weakened it enough that it was easily defeated."

"How do you control monsters?" Van asked, his interest peaked.

The man grabbed the whip from his waist and unfurled it with a snap. He held it up and flexed his muscles for some emphasis. "I am a beast keeper; I can control and summon many types of monsters."

"Are you an Adept?" Van asked, confused and unimpressed.

The man now looked confused. "An Adept?"

Van sighed. Every so often there were users of Psynergy who had no idea of the common term for their kind. "An Adept is a user of Psynergy, a force generated by the mind to control the four elements."

The man rubbed his scruffy chin with one hand as he held the other down towards the ground. Van sensed the movement of energy and there suddenly was a cracking noise. He looked down to find a thick green vine pushing its way through the thick orange rock floor. It curled its way up higher and higher until it stopped near his waist.

"My power, this Psynergy, that I use is aligned with Mother Gaia. I control the earth."

Van nodded. "Then you are aligned with Venus, the element of earth." He paused for a moment. "Can all Venus Adepts control beasts as well?"

The man shook his head. "Though I was born with the ability to control the earth, I have trained and practiced for years to learn to become a beast keeper." He turned and snapped his fingers. In a flash of yellow light a massive phoenix appeared, similar to the one Van had vanquished earlier.

Van leapt back and Flash dashed behind him. The man laughed and in an instant the phoenix was gone again.

"_Enough with the show! Tell us who you are!" _Flash demanded angrily.

The man laughed. He stopped and then studied Flash for a moment. "What manner of beast is this and why does it speak? I have never come across a beast who could speak."

Van had to grab Flash and pull him back and he threw himself at the stranger. "Flash, behave yourself!" Flash vanished with a "hmph" of indignation. He apologized to the man. "I'm sorry, but no, Flash is no beast. He is a djinn, an elemental spirit. Flash is of the same element as I am, Mars the element of Fire."

Van thought for a moment as he finished speaking that he felt a disturbance in the strong flow of Mars energy within the mountain. If energy could have a temperature, this disturbance felt cool. It was gone again as soon as he felt it so he ignored it.

"Now you know a little more about us but we know virtually nothing about you," Van said seriously.

"Ah, very well. My name is Dar, of Mehdrea, in the Eastern region of Indra. As you know I control the earth and I am only the latest in a long line of beast keepers which traces itself back nearly 1000 years."

As he finished his sentence, he looked around and then grabbed Van's arm. Van winced when Dar' hand clasped his wound. In an instant Van found that the two of them had melted into the rocky wall of the cave. He thought of wrenching his arm away from the other man, but then realized that it was the other man's touch that kept him alive within the rock.

In the next moment had Dar' had not been over his mouth, Van may have exclaimed.

Out of the shadows stepped two people, a man and a woman. Both had silver skin with scatterings of scales, like those of a fish. The man had long blue hair pulled out of his cold blue eyes into a ponytail. On his muscular torso he wore only a brown leather vest decorated with strange, blue designs and on his lower half he wore plain black trousers. He had a large sword sheathed at his side and brown sandals on his feet.

The woman, beautiful despite her strange appearance, had long blue hair streaked with white. She wore only a white running shirt and a short black skirt decorated with blue symbols which flared outward at the ends, like a fish tail. She also had long black boots and held a wicked looking black harpoon in her hand.

"What is it?" the man asked aloud suddenly as he and his partner stopped not a few feet from where Van and Dar had recently been standing.

"_I sense a djinn,"_ said a voice from a source which Van could not identify. Then, in a burst of white light appeared a small blue creature which Van knew to be a djinn. It was small and blue with bright rose-colored eyes. Its head was pointy and it had a long tail that ended in a large pink claw. Like Flash, it had no arms, only feet.

"It's quite possible that the boy has a djinn with him," the woman looking around. "I am not sure how you could sense it though. I cannot discern anything through the energy this mountain is pumping out. Can you, Calais?"

"No I cannot," the man called Calais answered. Although, Khione, it does not help that the boy is aligned with Mars and we happen to be walking through a massive source of Mars energy. It is like trying to find one's tear lost in the sea."

"Earlier I thought I had sensed the presence of a Venus Adept," Khione stated. "But it was very brief."

While the trio before them spoke, Van quickly became aware that he had no idea how he was still able to breathe while inside of the rock. Though he was able to, the thought made him feel very uncomfortable and as though he couldn't breathe; he started fidgeting, but Dar did his best to hold him still.

"I'm sure it was nothing," Calais responded. "We are inside of a mountain and although it is a source of Mars energy, I'm sure that Gaia still holds some sway here."

"_Let us continue_," the djinn said impatiently. "_We must find the boy and dispose of him before he can interfere with our plans._"

"Hm, are not those aligned with Mercury supposed to be calm and collected, Sleet? Not like certain members of the Mars clan?" Calais teased.

With a 'huff' that reminded Van far too much of his own djinn, Sleet the Mercury djinn vanished in a flash of light. Calais and Khione exchanged glances and Khione giggled.

"One of these days he's not going to take your teasing," she said with a smile.

"He's just too sensitive," Calais responded.

They took a moment to look around the room before finding the exit and continuing deeper into the mountain.

As soon as he was sure they were gone, Dar pulled himself and Van from the rock and they stood once more inside the round room. Van was glad to find he could breathe easy once more.

"How did you know they were coming" Van asked as Dar looked around.

"We are inside of a mountain, inside the very heart of mother Gaia herself. Though at great distances Mars interferes, their every step is obvious to me like ripples in a pond caused by a rock. As they came closer their presence became more and more known to me until they may as well have been screaming into my ear."

"What do you suppose they want here?" Van paused for a moment. "Come to think of it, why are you here?" he asked accusingly.

Dar looked offended for a moment. "I have been training here for days. Though mother Gaia shares a symbiotic relationship with fire, I have always had difficulty in taming the beasts of Mars so I came here to hone my skills. I had only just mastered the keeping of the phoenix when I noticed a group of people following you through the mountain. I used my Venus abilities to catch up to you and I had gotten so caught up in the battle that I had forgotten to tell you."

He then stopped and looked around.

"I could have sworn there were more of them, but I suppose I am wrong," he said, puzzled.

"Well they can't be after the power deep within this mountain," Van started. "The power hidden in the depths is accessible only to those of Mars, but those two are of Mercury."

"Mercury is water?"

"Yes, and Jupiter is wind."

"Got it, but what is this power of which you speak? What can one do when one attains it?

Van shrugged his shoulders. "The only person I've known who has reached it was my grandmother. Even though she told me of her adventures within this mountain she never revealed what the great power inside of it was. I think she wanted me to discover it on my own."

"Well, whatever their purpose they sounded as though they did not wish to interrupted."

Van asked, puzzled: "what's your point?"

"I think we should go interrupt them."

Van thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement. The two shook hands as a sign of their new brotherhood, drew their swords, and continued deeper into the mountain.


	4. Chapter 4

The two Mercury Adepts stood before the towering stone, basking in the deep blue light that radiated from its depths. The power within their bodies surged as they took in the energy emitted by the stone. Psynergy stones were natural sources of Psynergy and as such allowed Adepts to take in energy and restore their strength. Calais and Khione stood before it, feeling their skin rise into goose bumps at the sheer overwhelming amounts of energy pouring forth.

In a flash of light Sleet appeared near the tip of the massive stone, where it met the cavern ceiling. The djinn danced elatedly around the stone, riding the flows of energy that were issuing from it. He started glowing as he began to absorb the energy.

"Sleet, what are you doing?" Calais asked with irritation in his voice. "Was it not you who felt we needed to be done with this before anyone could interfere?"

"_Relax, Calais. We have arrived here before the boy could get a chance to restore his strength. Even if he shows up now you will be able to defeat him easily."_

"It would appear that the two of you have switched your roles," Khione teased.

"_Besides, we cannot do anything until Aura arrives. She is the key to this entire thing,_" Sleet added, ignoring the woman's comment.

Just as Sleet finished speaking, he quickly dodged a well aimed fireball which nearly caught the end of his tail. He responded with a small geyser shooting forth from where his mouth may have been, if he had one.

Flash easily dodged the geyser. "_Hello, Sleet_."

"_Flash._"

"You know each other?" Khione asked, puzzled.

"_We are both djinn, spirits of Alchemy and of the elements. We are essentially part of the same whole,"_ Sleet responded with disdain heavy in his voice.

"_You do not seem so eager to see me_," Flash said smartly.

"_You are like that relative that no one likes to see…Hey! What do you think you are doing?"_

Khione and Calais turned quickly to find Van and Dar appearing out of rocky cavern wall and making a dash for the Psynergy Stone, seeking to restore their strength. They stepped when a geyser erupted from Khione's hand and shot with deadly force towards them. Dar quickly cracked his whip and a phoenix appeared. It exploded upon contact with the geyser and converted it to a cloud of steam.

Van and Dar quickly used this as a distraction and reached the stone before the Mercury Adepts knew what had happened. They laid their hands upon its flat surface and felt energy surging through them once again.

They jumped back quickly, trying to put some distance between then and their opponents.

Khione raised one hand. "Glacier!" A mass of ice appeared out of nowhere and came barreling towards them, threatening to smash them into the cavern walls. Van quickly summoned a wall of fire and Khione could do nothing but watch as her attack was turned into a wet spot on the floor.

"I'm afraid that will not work here, dearest," Calais said as he removed his vest; apparently the heat was getting to him. Van noticed a long scar down his silver torso.

Calais and Khione then raised their hands and in unison shouted: "Deluge!" A torrent of water came smashing into them, sending them crashing to the floor and cavern wall. When Dar and Van rose from the floor looking no worse, Calais drew his sword and Khione brandished her harpoon.

In response Dar and Van both drew their swords. As Dar reattached his whip to his belt, Van willed the blade of his sword to catch fire; Calais looked worried as the sword erupted in flame.

Dar thrust his sword upwards. "Phaedrus blade!" There was a howl and the sword's blade detached and became a strange whip-like weapon. He twirled it above his head and dashed forward. As he brought the whip-blade crashing down, Calais and Khione only narrowly dodged it. After it struck the ground, Dar flicked the weapon and it became a sword once more.

In that moment, Calais rushed forward. "Boreas Blade!" His sword instantly became a blade of ice and brought it down upon Dar's shoulder, leaving a deep icy cut. Dar shouted out in pain, but before Calais could do more damage Dar managed to kick him away and retreat a little. A quick Cure sealed the cut on his arm, though it remained coated in ice.

Deciding it was her turn, Khione twirled her harpoon above her head. "Ceto's Spear!" Electricity began crackling over the surface of her weapon and she dashed forward to strike Dar, who was the closest.

"I don't think so. Vestal Blade! Hestia's Wrath!" Van drew back the flaming sword and dashed forward to meet Khione's strike just before it reached Dar. He winced as some electricity coursed from her weapon into his and then into his body. In response, he willed the fire on his sword to grow larger, and it started blazing in the woman's face.

Khione shrieked and leapt away from the fire. Van was happy to see that the ends of her hair were singed. She waved her hand and she was restored.

While she was distracted Van sent flames streaming from his hand towards her while Dar sent rocky spires shooting towards Calais. The pair of Mercury adepts raised their hands, prepared to defend themselves.

All four of them were surprised when the spires met an invisible barrier and shattered and the flames were blown aside, just missing Khione.

"Aura?"

Van looked around to pair to see whom Calais addressed. Behind him stood a young woman. She had white-blonde hair that fell into violet eyes. She wore an intricate looking tunic and brown sandals, the straps of which were woven around her legs. In her hand she held a long, wooden staff and around her neck she wore a large green stone on a silver chain.

"Ah, Aura. It is about time that you showed up," Khione said, addressing her with disdain obvious in her voice; she did not seem to care for the young woman very much.

Calais on the other hand seemed to light up when he saw her. "Aura!" he called again.

"Hello, Calais," Aura responded in a voice like the twinkling of bells. She cast him a look that Van could only describe as flirtatious and Khione became visibly angry.

"_Well if the three of you are quite finished,_" Sleet said, resuming the irritation he had exhibited before. "_It's about time we were finished here._"

"Oh, who is the one who needs to relax, Sleet?" asked Calais.

"Oh Sleet, Calais, you both need to relax. You are both far too high strung," Aura said with a giggle. "No one can stop us, no matter how much time we waste." She cast a glance towards Dar and Van. "Least of all these two."

Dar and Van exchanged furious looks before Dar cracked his whip angrily; Khione and Calais flinched at the sound, but Aura did not bat an eye. Beside Dar appeared another massive phoenix, only this one was blazing with golden flames in response to Dar's emotions. With another angry crack of the whip, the phoenix took flight like a blazing missile towards Aura. She merely stood with a smile on her face as the giant fiery bird flew at her, beak aimed for her throat.

Dar cried out in frustration when suddenly the phoenix struck an invisible barrier and burst into flame. He watched, dumbfounded, as its fiery remains fell to the ground and faded.

With another angry crack of his whip, Dar summoned a new creature. This time a large mass of orange stone rose out of the ground; in an instant it sprouted arms and legs.

Van was sure it would be a direct, devastating strike, but suddenly the phoenix reached an invisible barrier, where it exploded and was gone. Dar stood there, dumbfounded. With another angry crack of his whip a new creature appeared. It was a tall behemoth of a monster which appeared to be a large mass of living stone with legs and arms. There was also a small face that was hardly discernable on its front side.

_"A grand golem,"_ Flash whispered as he floated around Van's head. _"I haven't seen one of those in a long time."_

Another crack of the whip and the creature moved with unnatural speed towards Aura. It was nearly there when it reached an invisible barrier and shattered into dust.

Aura smiled. "Now if you're quite finished…" She raised both of her hands and floated into the air, where she hovered a few inches off of the ground. A strange wind picked up in the cavern and her hair whipped around her as Van felt energy pouring out of her. Suddenly he felt as though a giant, invisible hand had seized him around the middle and was now hoisting him in the air. He looked around and found that Dar and Flash had been seized as well; they were both struggling in the air.

"What…how…are you doing this?" Dar shouted amidst grunts from struggling.

Aura looked up to where she held him in the air. "As I am sure you already know, Jupiter Adepts possess the ability to affect and manipulate more than just the physical things around them; they can see into the future, stop time, and read minds. Long ago, the ancient Anemos possessed other amazing abilities, such as the ability to manipulate space allowing them to produce invisible barriers and even shrink and grow things at will. This is how I defeated your monsters with ease. As for the technique I am using to hold you in the air…" she shrugged. "It's a simple technique related quite closely to the lift technique that many Adepts today possess." She snapped her fingers and suddenly the force holding them in the air contracted, nearly crushing their lungs and ribs. It released, but the three of them were no longer struggling to be free, rather they were struggling to breathe.

Aura turned her attention away from them to the towering Psynergy stone that stood in the center of the cavern. She approached it slowly and, it almost seemed, cautiously. As she reached the stone, she placed her hand on one of its many flat faces, sending tiny bolts of violet electricity scattering over its surface. She smiled and closed her eyes.

Van could sense great, almost overwhelming power inside of her, surely she did not need to replenish her already immense stores of Psynergy so quickly. So what was she doing near the stone? Granted, it replenished Psynergy for all Adepts who touched it, but it was also a source of Mars energy, second only to Mars Lighthouse itself in magnitude. If this girl was a Jupiter Adept, what meaning could this stone have for her?

It did not take long for him to get his answer.

The girl now had both hands on the stone's faultless surface and there was a deep scarlet light shining from its depths. Massive amounts of Mars energy were not issuing forth from the stone. To all but Van, the temperature in the cavern had become sweltering, bordering on unbearable. Van, however, absorbed the energy and it was a boon to him. He felt his burns heal and his sore muscles rejuvenated. His focus returned and his fatigue was now all but gone. Though he had just replenished his Psynergy, he felt his power levels rising and his body was surging with power. The energy was so abundant and therapeutic to him that he was reaching the point of elation, even ecstasy.

Then, in an instant the feeling was gone and Van knew something was wrong.

The energy had suddenly retreated once more into the depths of the stone, which started glowing a violent shade of red. The cavern started shaking and Van could now massive amounts of energy pouring forth once more. This time, however, the energy was coming from Aura. A strange wind was causing her hair to whip around and energy swirled around her as it surged from her body.

This time, the energy was hostile; it felt toxic and evil. The level of power pouring out of this young girl made him shudder, and the sheer amount of it flowing into him caused him to become dizzy and sick to his stomach. The spare energy he had been filled with had been siphoned from his body and he felt empty and weary. He thought for a second that he might vomit. Then, quickly and without warning his head started spinning and his vision began blurred.

When his head stopped spinning and his vision had cleared, only minutes later, the cavern was darker; the light from the towering stone was no longer lighting the room and the only light came from torches on the cavern walls. When Van looked closer, he saw that the entire stone had vanished. What he saw instead was Aura pacing around the spot in which the stone had stood for countless millennia, feeding Mars energy into Gondowan.

As she moved, he saw that he was mistaken; the stone was still there, only now it was no bigger than his fist. Aura circled around it cautiously, studying it. Without warning she bent down, took it in one hand, and ripped it from the ground causing bolts of electricity to shoot through the air.

Almost simultaneously Van could feel a vacuum beginning to form. For millennia that stone had fed energy into the earth and now that it was gone, the earth was absorbing whatever energy was near it. He could feel a pulling at his core as the earth began to siphon his Psynergy.

Suddenly he, Flash, and Dar dropped to the ground as Aura released them. They hit the ground with a crash and Flash exclaimed something offensive. He watched the Khione, Calais, and Aura exit the chamber quickly as he struggled to his feet. As soon as he had finally got his footing, the pulling in his chest had suddenly erupted in a searing pain. The Psynergy vacuum was sucking in energy more intensely now. As he clutched his chest he saw a dark hole form above the spot where the Psynergy stone had previously stood. Energy crackled around the swirling vortex and Van could feel more and more energy being drawn into it.

He fell to the ground again, hitting his head on a large rock, as the last of his spare energy was siphoned from his body. He heard Dar shout his name as he hit the ground. His vision started going black. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a fiery explosion.


End file.
